According to Twitter’s Safety account, the social media company has gone through and verified a number of the Parkland shooting survivors account…as a means of keeping them safe.
They say they’re doing this because the survivors are being targeted and harassed on Twitter.
We are actively working on reports of targeted abuse and harassment of a number of survivors of the tragic mass shooting in #Parkland. Such behavior goes against everything we stand for at Twitter, and we are taking action on any content that violates our terms of service.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 21, 2018
We are also using our anti-spam and anti-abuse tools to weed out malicious automation around these individuals and the topics they are raising. We have also verified a number of survivors' Twitter accounts.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) February 21, 2018
Wouldn’t verifying their accounts make them even MORE of a target for harassment? It’d be easier for people to verify who they are?
Here are a few of the verified accounts:
The community’s response to Twitter Safety’s posting was rather interesting.
https://twitter.com/niitsitapii3/status/966452323940577280
Part of being on the Internet is knowing that there are predators out there. If these kids’ parents allow them to be on social media then they know the risks that come with being online. Twitter officials can’t protect every. single. person.
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Why did it take so long for you to act and the fake stories be shared thousands of time? Again dropping the ball. These students don’t deserve this. No one does
— Stacy (@blumes15) February 21, 2018
It’s not Twitter’s fault that these kids have decided to throw themselves into the mainstream media spotlight by standing up in favor of gun control. Part of being a known activist is knowing that your name is going to be smeared. If they didn’t want that kind of thing to happen to them then they shouldn’t have been so quick to launch themselves into the national spotlight the way they did.
Too bad it took a damning Vanity Fair story to make you all act on safety and harassment issues that you should have addressed years ago
— Gen X Cosmic Dancer ?️? (@EtreEtro) February 21, 2018
And you know this was the straw that broke the camel’s back because….?
https://twitter.com/TheTimKnight/status/966454298228871170
Gun control.
Twitter translation: if you disagree with them and you make it known, then you’re targeting them.
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